Fox's 1st Day of Kindergarten

It was an emotional week to say the least, because only a few days after Finn turned one, my big kid started Kindergarten. Cue the tears!

We met his teacher a few days before school started and he was so nervous, but all smiles and felt so much better after he met her. We were hoping that one of his best friends from his old school would be in his class, but he ended up in a different Kindergarten class at the same school. 

And then it was here, his first day at a brand new, big kid school. I don't know who was more nervous, me or him. We made his teacher a little gift for the first day.

We were able to walk him into class and get him situated, take a picture, but then had to leave pretty soon. The second day I was only allowed to walk him to the door and starting on the third day, we had to drop him off at the gate. Such a difference from preschool.

He didn't cry and seemed to have had a great day when I picked him up at 3:15pm. The only thing he said that it was a long day, but also that he made a friend, but didn't know his name yet (it ended up taking three weeks until he learned his friend's name).

We celebrated with ice cream!

In german tradition, he received a "Schultuete" once we got home, filled with some treats, little toys and school supplies. 

For his first homework, he had to draw a self portrait. Finn wanted to help too...or maybe he just wanted to eat the markers.

The following two pictures were taken by his teacher and I love to see him having fun at school.

It's been over a month (because I'm THAT late with keeping up with this blog) and while he has days where he says that he doesn't want to go to school, for the most part he is happy to go. 

It feels like such a big difference from Pre-K though. He has homework every day, it's long days, there is very limited communication with his teacher and you can drop off the kids in a carline, which is a whole new world for me. I definitely felt very weird that first day when i "kicked him" out of the car, wished him a good day and he had to get out and walk to class all by himself. We've only done this maybe twice, because he does not like doing carline, so I usually park and walk him to the gate and we wait for the bell to ring together. 

I can't believe I have a kid in Kindergarten! If I could freeze time right now, I would. Look how little he was in that first picture! Wasn't that just yesterday? 

Dibling Reunion

We call all of the half-siblings "diblings" (donor siblings) and we know about 12 of them, although we all know that there are more out there. We have met one of the diblings multiple times in the past and I have also met two other families (without the kids), but it has always been my dream to get them all together one day. About a year ago we started to plan and while not all of the families were able to make it this year, we were able to met up with three other families for our first annual dibling reunion. 

The reunion was going to take place at Katie's mom's beach house in Long Beach. She had graciously offered to host all of us and it ended up being perfect. I was really nervous to drive 6 hours with the boys by myself (Katie decided not to come). Not only had I never driven by myself to California, but adding two kids in the mix was stressing me out. But we all rocked it. Finn was a trooper and slept about 3.5 hours in total and was content in his car seat for the rest of the time. We stopped half way to have some lunch and In N Out and I was really proud of myself when we made it to Long Beach.

We arrived a day before everyone else and spent some time with Rene' and Patrick.

We had never been to their beach house and now that I've been there, I can't believe it took me so long to go. It was absolutely gorgeous and their house was amazing. 

We took a long walk on the beach with the boys and I remember feeling really happy and at peace.

You can see how close the houses were to the ocean, one of the house you see in the background is theirs.

Of course Grandma had some gifts for the boys and Fox was excited to try out his new camera.

I tried to take some pictures of Finn at sunset, but he was not into it.

He made it very clear that he was done!

The next morning we picked up the first family from the airport. Fun fact: All of the moms who could make it to the reunion were single moms.

Isn't she gorgeous? She loved Finn and I think the feeling was mutual.

We hung out at the house until the second family arrived.

Our set up was really cool there. We had the entire downstairs level to ourselves. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and living room. 

Ready to hit the beach!

The waves were really strong on the beach, so we didn't stay on that side very long and moved to the peninsula side that was much calmer, just across the street.

It really surprised me how well all of the kids got along, it just felt so natural and easy. They all know that they're siblings, but none of them has asked further questions yet, but we all know it will come in the next few years.

This picture cracks me up. Candice was so sweet with him, but he was not having it.

And she was such a good sport, pulling the kids up and down the shoreline.

They had a competition who could get the dirtiest.

I think they all won.

That night we ordered pizza and everyone went to bed late and exhausted. 

The next morning we were waiting for the last family to join us. 

We had planned another beach day, but this time I left Finn with grandma, so I could spend some one on one time with Fox, which was perfect.

We spent a few minutes on the ocean side, but moved across the street again, after two of the kids got swallowed up by huge waves.

I seriously love these ladies. The feeling is hard to describe...you never met these kids before, but you just love them. You want to squeeze them so hard and you know that they're a part of your family. It was incredible.

My heart felt so happy seeing them all together.

The next morning we woke up bright and early, because it was time to go to DISNEY! I never had this many kids in my car before!

I made shirts for all of the kids. The boys' shirts said "Brother from another mother" and the girls' shirts said "Sister from the same Mister". It also had their names on the backside. I always wondered what the people in Disney thought about the shirts, because I'm sure they weren't able to figure out how we were all connected (Sister Wives?)...haha!

Jungle Cruise! Two of the kids (and their moms) had never been to Disneyland before, so it was extra special.

We visited the new Star Wars area at Disneyland and Fox had seen commercials about making your own BB-8, so we went to make one for him. 

The girls were all about Finn, I had some great little helpers.

I wasn't able to ride Splash Mountain with Finn and Fox changed his mind 42 times while we were waiting in line. At the last minute, he decided to go with the other moms and the picture says it all. He told me, he would never ride it again.

What I love about Disneyland is that there are not many rides that Finn wasn't able to do.

They're one month apart!

Two of the families left a little earlier, but Candice and I toughed it out and stayed for the fireworks. Finn slept all the way through it.

Two of the families had to leave the next morning, but Debra and I ventured out for one more day of adventures. 

We took the kids on a ferry to go to downtown Long Beach.

We went to the aquarium and Fox was really excited (and also nervous) to touch jellyfish for the first time.

This picture just makes my heart burst!

We had a very crazy/chaotic dinner afterwards and then took the ferry home.

I'm so grateful to have these families in our lives and that my boys have extended family and siblings if they choose to have contact with them. I loved every single minute that we got to spend with them and my heart was full. I really hope that we can have another reunion next year and hopefully meet some of the other siblings as well.

I stayed for a couple of more days with the boys and we celebrated Finn's birthday with Grandma Rene'.

Look at that smile! He is the sweetest baby ever! I can still call him a baby, even though he is one now, right?

The next day we visited the California Science Center, which was really cool.

The drive back home wasn't as smooth as the drive there, but overall still pretty good.

It was a great trip, but I was exhausted after the week. Being a single mama is one thing, but being a single mama on vacation was somewhat stressful. Of course, it was totally worth it in the end and we made memories that will last a lifetime (at least for me).